Hong Kong

Asia » Hong Kong
June 18th 2008

Published: June 18th 2008

We traveled to Hong Kong last Thursday night by plane, and it was one of the bumpiest planes I had ever been in. The flight only took two hours and we were settled into our hotel by 11pm. We stayed at the Island Pacific on Hong Kong Island and had a great view of the waterway and Kowloon Island. It would have been a better view if it wasn’t raining the whole time we stayed there, but the skyline was still beautiful. It would rain very hard for about 5 minutes at a time, and then stop for about 30 before starting again.
On Friday, we went to Nathan Road, on Kowloon Island, and looked at the many upscale shops and restaurants. The area was very nice and very Westernized. We walked along the Avenue of the Stars and saw Bruce Lee’s statue as well as many other actors/actresses stars on the sidewalk. I didn’t know who any of them were, but it was still exciting to be there. The Avenue is located right on the river so we were looking back at Hong Kong island. We walked around the city without a real plan, and then watched the light show that the buildings of Hong Kong put on at night. The skyscrapers located right on the river will light up in accordance with music that plays every night. It was a pretty cool show since there were so many buildings involved. We ended the night with dinner at “Sammie’s Kitchen” which is known for it’s great steak. They had very good dinner and a complimentary dim sum dessert, which was great!
On Saturday, we went to Macau, which is part of China’s mainland, but is also a separate entity from China. I got so many stamps on my passport this trip! Luckily it was sunny so we were able to see Macau without having to hide under an umbrella or poncho the whole day. Macau has a Portuguese background so it was like walking into a European city. The streets were made of cobblestone, all the signs were written in English and Portuguese, and there were so many churches! It felt like I was on a traditional study abroad for a day! It was Cultural Heritage Day, so we were able to go to the Macau museum for free. We ate lunch at Margaret’s café, which is known for its egg tarts. They were also delicious. At night, we went to see all the casinos. Macau is the Las Vegas of Asia. I went to the Wynn and saw the water show; we went to the Grand Lisboa, where James Bond: Man With the Golden Gun, was filmed and then to the Venetian. I didn’t gamble, but it was great to see all the lights and the atmosphere was so alive. We didn’t get home until 6am. Luckily the ferry back to Hong Kong ran 24hours, but only VIP seats are sold after 2am. Since there were six of us, we were given our own private room in the ferry. We were living large!
Sunday, we slept in until about 1pm because we were exhausted. The boys went to DisneyLand, Hong Kong, but no one else was interested. After DisneyLand, we went to Lantau Island to see the beach. Another girl and I decided to skip out on the beach because we found an outlet mall on the outskirts of Hong Kong. If you were wondering—yes, outlets malls in China do have an orb of light surrounding them and it does sound like angels singing inside. They had really great brands inside, and it was some much needed retail therapy after shopping in stores where all the sizes are too small and there are no dressing rooms. The others said the beach was fun and that there were free-roaming buffalo, but I don’t think it can compare to the $30 French Connection jeans I bought! Sunday night, we went to the top of Victoria's Peak via tram and saw the whole skyline! You could see both islands and all the surrounding mountains! It was one of the prettiest sights I had ever seen.
Hong Kong was British territory until 1997, so many people spoke English there and they drove on the “wrong” side of the road. The taxi drivers mainly spoke Cantonese, so even though we had someone who spoke Mandarin with us, it was still as if we were back in Shanghai and just had to use the map to tell the driver where to go. I was amazed at how expensive everything was in Hong Kong, even though the rate to the USD is just a little better than RMB. It was nice to be in a city where English was spoken again and I could understand the majority of the signs. In 50 years, Hong Kong will be assimilated with China again, but my professor told me that instead of turning Hong Kong into China, they Chinese want to turn China into Hong Kong. I’m definitely going back to Hong Kong again.

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